KEY POINTS:
You know you're in France when the Prime Minister is largely ignored and everyone wants to shake the hand of Willie Apiata, the SAS man who won the Victoria Cross.
I am leading a tour party in Europe and a few days ago we were camped in a cafe when we saw Helen Clark and her entourage, including her husband Peter Davis, heading into a building where they were apparently going to sign a document of remembrance re Passchendaele, the battle where so many young Kiwis died in World War 1.
When they came out, one of our crowd bellowed "Helen" and they made a beeline for us. The interesting thing was, the crowd was more interested in Willie Apiata, who was part of the official party, than they were in the PM.
It made me think - things often don't turn out how you expect and, when you're under pressure, things sometimes seem to go against you.
The PM's been under pressure in polls and the All Blacks have experienced vast pressure in this past week - everything from the jerseys fiasco to the French selection and, I reckon, their efforts to con them.
The match will be over by the time you read this and I am in no way changing my mind there will be an All Black-Springbok final.
But the jerseys thing was stupid - and French coach Bernard Laporte tried to use it to his advantage; just as he did with his rather loony efforts to call the All Blacks "New Zealand" so as to defuse the All Black "myth", as he called it.
This kind of second-rate psychology only fires the All Blacks up more. But the IRB should give themselves a big uppercut - the All Blacks are one of the few sides who have not changed their strip. France have, Scotland have, the Irish did, the Aussies have. There is no way a side which have not changed strip should be disadvantaged - and it should have been sorted months ago.
I think Laporte was also having us on when he announced his team selection - with the big boot of Lionel Beauxis and Damien Traille supposedly aimed at pinning the All Blacks back in their half. I bet the game you watch this morning will still have some traditional French adventure in there.
The Pumas have a good show against the Boks, especially if they can get past Scotland well today and take some momentum into that semifinal. If they can get a lead - and we have all seen how good their defence is - it can be difficult to get back into it, as France discovered against them.
But I think the Boks will have too much pace and skill out wide - just as they will against the Fijians.
I know Jacques Fourie sounded arrogant when he said the Boks didn't respect the Fijians. But what he was really saying was: 'We're just going to do what we do; and if we do that, we'll be too good for them.'
You have to earn the right to be as arrogant as that and, you know what, I think the Boks have.
